mcdohl

Current money factor on E350 convertible in .00395 and Residual value is 57% for 36 months 15,000 miles per year. Add two points for 12,000 per year and 3 points for 10,000 per year and 4 points for 7,500 miles per year.

Same money factor on the E550 convertible of .00395 and Residual value is 55% for 36 months 15,000 miles per year. Add two points for 12,000 miles per year, add 3 points for 10,000 miles per year and 4 points for 7,500 miles per year.

That puts a lease payment around $1250 + tax for a well equipped E350A and around $1500 + tax for a well equipped E550A.

That makes leasing these cars a total joke as you are paying about 70% of the value of the car over 36 months and we all know resale on this car is going to much higher than 30% after 36 months.

The money factor translate to comparable interest rate around 9.5%. I guess MBUSA is trying to gouge as much money as possible from people buying this car. They are releasing the cars in drips and drabs to dealers, holding back cars at the port. And to add insult to injury they are charging interest rates higher than a homeless person would pay today on a car loan.

Bubbaboy

Thanks...Good to know. I guess MB thinks that there are going to be enough people that don't care and simply have to have it. At the same time it's hard to predict what a car like that is going to be worth in three years.

JD

i_am_amused

Yes, it's an expensive lease (ridiculous to the point of humor), but if MB can get away with it, good for them. And if there are people actually willing and able to take on the lease (Bend over, please. Would you like some K-Y with that? This might hurt a little...), then good for them, too.

It's called capitalism. Ain't it great?

Or maybe I missed your point?

mcdohl

I do not do care what MBUSA does like I posted back in Feb my dealer told me the leases were going to be a joke on E-Class Cabs and told me when I ordered it to prepare myself to buy it and I have not bought a car in over 20 years from him, as I always lease my cars from the same salesman. So I was aware the lease was going to high but this lease program is high to point of it being ridiculously high. Just passing the information to other people.

The E-Class Coupe was expensive and had a big premium which did not make it worth leasing honestly but the premium on the E-Class Cab is about 40% higher than the Coupe.

I do not have a problem with MB making a profit. I have no problem with MBF making a profit either. But if any mortgage company in America was trying to charge an interest rate of 9.5% you would be hearing everyone yelling bloody murder. As an interest rate that high is considered almost usury.

Again I do not care what MBUSA does, nor am I bashing MBUSA for doing what they are doing. I just think charging an interest of 9.5% when car loans from BOA are 3.35% for 60 months is not only high but ridiculously high.

YYZ-E55

Which is it? Either way, good luck with the purchase - I'm sure MBUSA and MBF will be just fine with their "rediculous" rates on a great car.

SkiMiester

Huh...My wife Leased an E350 for $602 per month with Taxes for 50 months at 10K/yr. w/$4,200 down. She just turned it in at lease end. MB wanted 8K more than Market Value for the buy-out. We found her an 04 S430 w/80K and 1 year left on ELW for $16,999 yahoooo! I almost want to trade her my E500 for it.

mcdohl

Maybe you are missed my point, like I said MB and MBF is free to charge anything they want, I do not care what they charge. The whole point of my original post was to let people know about the lease program and how ridiculous it is. You might not agree with my opinion that is your choice.

My dealer told me back in Feb the lease program was going to be a joke based on the lease program for the E-Class Coupe. He told they used to lease about 70% of all CLK sold because the lease program made sense. On the flip side they almost never lease E-Class Coupes as the lease program from day 1 made no sense at all. MB and MBF thinks the cars sells itself and they might be right and there for never had a competitive lease on the coupe. Only people who leased the E-Class coupe were people who otherwise could not afford to drive them.

I hope MB and MBF really does live up to their comments about the E-Class Coupes and Cabs be super limited production cars. Then this car will end up being like the 1998-2001 CLK who used sold for almost as much as a new one because of demand for the car and the limited production of the car. So when I go to sell my car in 2-3 years I will be able to sell it with a very small loss which effectively will allow me to drive this car for very little money.

YYZ-E55

If you think your cab is going to be worth 57% in 3 years, you're daydreaming. So while the money factor may be high, so is the RV. Its all a game.

mcdohl

2007 350 CLK cabs are listed on Cars.com for $38-44k depending on the milage. That is for P1 cars which originally sold for $60k. They already took a hit for the new body coming out. That is 66-73% residual. So to think the new E-Class cabs are going to sell for less than 57% in 3 year is a joke.

Again I could be wrong as I do not have a crystal ball. But if you figure a lease payment of about $1250 for 36 months is $45k and I used a $63k car to calculate that lease payment. That means according to MB the car will be worth $18k in 3 years. If you agree with MB I will commit right now to buying 20 E350A p1 cars with clean car fax report from you for $20k each how does that sound? That is a $2k more than MB think they will be worth.

YYZ-E55

Call your salesman buddy and ask him what wholesale value is for a 2007 CLK350 cabrio. Post back ASAP!

mcdohl

I does not matter what wholesale is, Are you saying no one buys the cars listed on cars.com? Those are not all from dealers. I do not care what the car sells for in auctions or what a dealer would pay for the car. I know the dealer is never going to pay me close to what retail for the car. But I am sure someone is buying the cars listed on cars.com even if you had to sell it for a discount say of $2-3k cheaper than the price listed on cars.com that is still way more than $18k.

Assuming wholesale on the car was $30k you are still $12k ahead buying over leasing it. And I am sure if you sell it in 30 months before many lease returns come back, you will be able to get much more than $30k for the car and closer to $40k or $45k even.

mac911

Plenty of 2009 CLK Cabrios on lot. Surely they take 15 grand or more off those. not a bad option.

Serndipity

I the higher prices are due to the drop in the Euro...today, it's at 1.24 to the $ and expected to be at parity soon.

There have been several threads on the W208/W209 boards recently regarding how used MB vehicle (including cabriolets) values have fallen.....much deeper than other comparable cars.

There was a pristine 2001 430 cabriolet that sold for $7,500 (lost 88% of MSPR in 9 years, maybe more if the original owner paid over MSRP, as was the case back then).

Txhurdle

I don't know if I'd call it a game, but the lenders have to position themselves so they don't take a bath at lease end the way they all did the last 3 years. The lenders are the ones taking the risk with the RV's. If an outside lender offers a more manageable .00250 MF (6% Interest) I can guarantee you their RV will be more than 3% worse then the MBF MF. In 3 years when this lease comes to term and it's actual value is $6,000 less than the 57% RV, MBF (or howmever your lender is) is the one who eats the depreciation, not the end consimer. So the lenders are making smart business decisions now and have to help off-set the future reality of their risk in this type of transaction. If you're doing it in a business name, talk to your financial and take the tax savings. If you aren't going to take advanatge of any tax benefits, currently it may be a little more financially resposnsible to buy it instead.

YYZ-E55

3 problems with this theory:

1) C-Class cabrio will be out before your 30 months are up. Now you have a substitution effect - does the prospect buy a used E cab or a new C cab? The demographic of a CLK cab buyer was heavily skewed toward mature married women, the same group who would love a smaller, good-looking C cab. While the E cab is much more edgy and universally appealing to both sexes, sales will still be skewed toward women.
2) There will be plenty of used E cabs around well before the 30 month mark - dealer demos, ex-employee cars, cash buyers who want the newest (ie: the new C-Class cabrio) and have traded their E cabs, etc.
3) Cabrios aren't very popular in January in most parts of North America. So your "6 month early" approach only works if you took delivery in the fall. And if that's the case, you only enjoyed two summers in the cabrio versus three.

You can rationalize it any way you want, but at the end of the day, this car's value is going to sink like a stone just like any other Benz (or other brand). Love it for what it is, not for what it will be worth in 30-36 months.

mcdohl

I do not know, the more you open your mouth and the salesman does, the less I want to buy the car.

Well I asked the salesman about the C-Class cabs and if they were coming out next year etc, and he said he heard they would be out in summer of 2012 as early 2013 but the C-Class Cabs would not be comparable to CLK or E-Class Cabs and they are meant to compete with 1 series BMW and are going to be smaller/cheaper cars. I do not know who is telling the truth anymore nor do I care.

Maybe you missed it but I said in other thread I live in Los Angeles, Convertibles can be used all year around here, that could also be part of the reason the locally listed cars on cars.com are listed so high as demand in So Cal might be higher than a place like New York as even in the winter the weather here is nice.


I am not rationalize anything, I am sharing what my dealer is spewing to me and his reasoning behind why I should buy over lease and honestly the more and more both you and dealer open your mouths the less I want to buy the car, and the more and more I thinking of walking away from the car and leasing a BMW 335IC or 650IC. The BMW 335IC leases for under $800 a month. And the 650IC leases for under $1100 per month with tax vs 350 is going to lease for around 1250+ tax and 550 is going to lease for 1450+ tax and tax is Ca is 9.75%.

I have leased 6 MB in a row, and always the MB leased close to what the BMW leased for, and in fact MB tend to lease for the less. I prefer a lease with a lower RV and lower interest anyways, if the manufacture is wrong about the RV and it ends up being too low you can always sell the car for the equity in the car but paying an interest rate close to 10% is a joke when MB is charging interest rates between 2-4% on all cars except the coupe who have 6.5% interest and other car RV are same as E-Class Cab.

Both you and the dealer can keep spewing your BS, him with the leases are a joke, and if I can afford to buy the car, it will end up being much cheaper for the me to buy the car and sell it in 3 years over leasing it and you coming up with your BS that the car will be worthless in 3 years. Which honestly makes me just want to lease a BMW where I know my loss is capped at the lease payments and the lease payments are not ridiculous because BMW is trying to rip off lease by charging them a 10% interest rate and by MB setting the RV as low as they did compared to CLK they are in effect making the resale of the car worse as no dealer is going to pay 57% for your car once lease returns start coming back in.

i_am_amused

wow... that's quite a "stream of consciousness" thing you have going there. Do you talk like that in real life? Must be a ***** to follow in conversation.


enjoy your bimmer, but the 335 and 650 are very different from the E...

mcdohl

I got to say for all the people on this board, both YYZ-E55 and you are by the far ruddiest and biggest *******s on this board. Neither one of you have a concept of money or reality.

Both of you are more than likely teens spending daddies money. Seriously enjoy upsetting or irritating people. I post helpful information on this board which both of you might or not might not find helpful, but that is beside the point, as I posted when the cab order bank opened up, the official launch date of these cars, the official lease rates etc. I shared with this board what my salesman stated to me and his reasoning behind it so others might benefit for it.

The two of you choose to irritate me, mock me, defend MB pricing etc which even the salesman is not as he is the one telling me not to lease the car but buy it as he knows I can afford to pay cash for the car. Neither of you know my current situation or anything. So I am going to fill you in, my current CLK 550A has 4100 miles after 28 months, as I have a S550 as well. I drive the convertible only durning the day when my wife is not with me as she hates convertibles. I work for a living and have a good job and make good money but that does not mean I have throw away my money like an idiot either nor do I need to impress anyone. I am not a 20 something idiot who think because I drive X car I am better than others either. I choose to have a 2nd car a convertible cause I like convertibles and because I can afford it. Their is no reason to attack people for posting what dealers tell them or expressing their idea's like you 2 idiots choose to do.

I will not return to this board as I am feed up of *******s like the two of you.

i_am_amused

please stop! you are killing me!!!

Thank you for attacking me *repeatedly* in your post. It was funny as h3ll to read in a post complaining about attacks.

I might actually be older than you , since I am well over half the expected age for men. And I spend my own money, as well.

I guess you know less about "my situation or anything" than you think.

I have a very good grasp on reality and the value of money. Unlike some people that are stunned by the prices businesses charge for their goods and services, I also have a very good grasp of capitalism. If they have it, and I want it, I have to pay for it. If they want to sell it to me, they need to price it where I will buy it. If we meet in the middle, a transaction takes place and we both win. If we don't meet in the middle, I complain about it.

I'm sorry you will be leaving. I for one will miss you and the useful information you have provided.

Enjoy your new bimmer.

Keng1

all this about the residuals on the car?

if the car is worth more than the residual at the end of the lease, buy out the car and sell it privately. supply and demand dictates the prices and I'm guessing...just guessing that the prices will come down and MB will start to subsidize the leases once again in a year or two from now.

Pennetta

On Long Island the 12 month/36k lease works out as a 57% residual and a .00350 money factor for the E550 Cab. That still is a 8.4% interest rate, better but still ridiculous.

i_am_amused

hmmm... maybe the cost of a lease will start coming down after initial pent-up demand. That smells a lot like capitalism.

srice

I believe the current administration and congress have outlawed capitalism